You do have to learn some stuff and readjust your workflow a bit. Its not an automatic thing like Lantio’s lights or such. And it also depends on the plugin you are using.
The biggest difference is you have to create your lighting thinking specifically for LuxRender (closer to real life lighting).
Materials requires adjustments to take full advantage of LuxRender.
Once you get used to it, creating scenes to be rendered in LuxRender is much easier and faster than for 3Delight, so I think it’s worth the initial effort.
LuxRender produce better results with less efforts in my opinion, but it takes longer to render. I care more about quality than render times, as they said, if you need renders fast, it might not be for you.

Reality does the job, but lacks important options and it works outside the DAZ Studio interface. (Old version: $39.95. Current version: $59.95. Not for DAZ Studio)
Luxus has a lot more options and it’s fully integrated inside DAZ Studio. $19.95. I’m using Luxus now.

The latest version of Reality is for Poser only, I have no idea when there will be a DAZ Studio version and (if) for how long will there be support for it.
There was an update for Luxus just some days ago.
There was a third, free plugin too, but its for DAZ Studio 3 and I don’t remember how its called. Would have liked to try it too myself if there was a DAZ Studio 4 version.

sgreco1970 - 05 May 2013 06:03 AM

Jaderail - 03 May 2013 07:28 PM

Not any longer. Just Google Reality 2 and you will find it.

out of curiosity, why doesnt daz sell it anymore?

No way to know the real story. Paolo’s products ceased to be sold here and he suddenly switched to Poser cheerleader mode after that. He left DAZ out of the list of stores he has good relations with (which is pretty obvious anyway).

well, I made the plunge. Wish me luck. Learning curves scare me, mostly because I tend to have 5 other software packages I should be learning ahead in line. But I’d really like to explore better lighting and renders and, no, long render times don’t scare me per se. I wont be using it for garden variety renders, only on important ones I want to look their best.

It can be a bit overwhelming at first. But its not hard.
It will make things much easier for you in the long run. If you need help, people willcome to the rescue.

well, I just decided to try a simple test. No hair, no environment, props, clothes etc—just genesis with a skin map and ONE distant light.

At 25 minutes, its still rendering lol. However, I have to say, its the absolute best these figures have ever looked. Im totally impressed.

Question. I have win 7 X64 and an nvidia 295 card. should I use open cl or no open cl? Im using openCL atm. Is there anything I can do to speed up the renders?

Well, I’ve dome images in 20 minutes, but get used to wait much more than that, lol. Something I like to use a lot are AreaLights (converting a prop to light source). A plane is usually enough. The bigger, the softer the shadow. Sometimes mixed with IBL.
And ALWAYS, use the LuxRender interface as it lets you control the lighting while it renders.http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewthread/18543/P420/#275939
Not sure about the OpenCL question, I don’t know much about it.
PD: Probably you know, but you can stop renders and resume them later.

It can be a bit overwhelming at first. But its not hard.
It will make things much easier for you in the long run. If you need help, people willcome to the rescue.

well, I just decided to try a simple test. No hair, no environment, props, clothes etc—just genesis with a skin map and ONE distant light.

At 25 minutes, its still rendering lol. However, I have to say, its the absolute best these figures have ever looked. Im totally impressed.

Question. I have win 7 X64 and an nvidia 295 card. should I use open cl or no open cl? Im using openCL atm. Is there anything I can do to speed up the renders?

Well, I’ve dome images in 20 minutes, but get used to wait much more than that, lol. Something I like to use a lot are AreaLights (converting a prop to light source). A plane is usually enough. The bigger, the softer the shadow. Sometimes mixed with IBL.
And ALWAYS, use the LuxRender interface as it lets you control the lighting while it renders.http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewthread/18543/P420/#275939
Not sure about the OpenCL question, I don’t know much about it.
PD: Probably you know, but you can stop renders and resume them later.

All I can say right now is; I have a lot to learn. I think I need to devote a day or 2 to learning the inner workings of all of this.

while I would never just use 1 light source, at least I might not have before, I just wanted a simple test.

hairless, clothingless man standing in a simple pose; one spotlight.

the first pic is using 3delight. the second, lux.

Im in love.

Granted, it took over an hour for an 800x5000 image and it actually wasnt done yet when i said, ‘fine, thats enough,” but I see the results are so striking I cannot wait to plumb its depths for all its secrets.

No, its just a regular object that LuRender uses as light source. Usually a one polygon plane primitive since each polygon counts as a light source, meaning longer render times if you use a sphere or whatever.

What are you using?
If you use Luxus you select the plane’s material, right click on the surfaces tab, and select “Luxus - LuxRender Material”. Check the Light Parameters box and in the Ligh section of the material, turn “Enable” to ON.

Now the plane will be a light in LuxRender. Adjust it’s size for different results.

No, its just a regular object that LuRender uses as light source. Usually a one polygon plane primitive since each polygon counts as a light source, meaning longer render times if you use a sphere or whatever.

What are you using?
If you use Luxus you select the plane’s material, right click on the surfaces tab, and select “Luxus - LuxRender Material”. Check the Light Parameters box and in the Ligh section of the material, turn “Enable” to ON.

Now the plane will be a light in LuxRender. Adjust it’s size for different results.